


i am your sweetheart psychopathic crush

by adashofhope



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Couch Cuddles, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Falling In Love, Flirting, Fluff and Angst, Forehead Kisses, Friends to Lovers, Identity Reveal, Mild Language, Misunderstandings, Romantic Gestures, Teens being teens, They love each other, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, also peter is a teenage boy, and mj is very hot, and more importantly, badass MJ, but we all love these kidiots, insecure fucks, mild jealousy, peter tries to get the girl, sometimes he drools a little, which reminds me, who think they know better
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-31
Updated: 2017-10-01
Packaged: 2018-12-22 01:50:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 14,905
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11957193
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/adashofhope/pseuds/adashofhope
Summary: peter parker comes to an earth shattering realisation during decathlon practice. with the help of tony stark, ned leeds and a very vague article about having crushes, peter decides to get the girl once and for all (in a non-sexist way, of course because god knows the girl in question would kill him if he ever said that).mostly fluff, angst only towards the end. but don't worry, it's a happy ending! because i am soft.





	1. In the Moment

**Author's Note:**

> my first spideychelle fic ever! be kind and gentle! hope you enjoy x

If you asked him, he could pinpoint the exact moment in which it happened. He remembers that they were at Decathlon practice. He remembers Flash being a pain in the ass. He remembers having enough of the boy and putting him in his place. He remembers the way she tried to hide the smirk on her face- by looking down at her cards. He remembers feeling a sense of satisfaction at the fact that he impressed her. He remembers the lingering question that he pushed to the back of his mind; why did he want to impress Michelle?

They were nearing the end of the practice, almost wrapping up for the day when he felt Ned nudge him with his elbow, telling him that he was zoning out and that MJ would’ve kicked his ass if she caught him daydreaming during practice. He remembers Ned telling him that not even Spider-Man could endure the wrath of Michelle Jones and to quit daydreaming about Spider-Man if he still wanted to be, well, Spider-Man. 

On any other day, Peter Parker would be dreaming about finally becoming an official Avenger and kicking some alien ass but today, or recently, he had been staring at the girl before him. He remembers thinking that she looked other-worldly, with the way the Sun was illuminating her features, giving her a slight glow. He remembers balling his fists in an attempt to hide his overwhelming urge to tuck the flyaway behind her ear because it looked like it was irritating her. He remembers thinking about the first time she hugged him. It was after the DC incident and she never wanted to admit it, but she was genuinely worried for him when he didn’t turn up until after the incident. 

He remembers smelling her hair-he swore she smelled like chocolate chip cookies. He remembers the way she tried to blink back the tears in her eyes when they pulled away and how she’d chuckled softly as she punched his arm and told him that if he ever disappeared in the middle of Decathlon again, she was going to kick his ass. He remembers wanting to hug her again, just to see if she smelled like cookies.

Still, it wasn’t all his daydreaming that made him realise the unspeakable truth.

She had just dismissed them. She pulled him aside and told him, “I don’t know what you’re up to and dreaming about but you’ve gotta focus, Parker.” He remembers the resigned look in her eyes when she spoke again, “Look, I just-this means a lot to me, okay? Please don’t mess this up for me?” 

He remembers the vulnerability of her words. He remembers hating the tired eyes she was projecting onto him. 

“I’m sorry, MJ. I promise, I’ll try my best to attend the practices and I’m not going to zone out again. I’m not going to ruin this for you, okay?” He said it in his most reassuring voice, hoping that the sad eyes would disappear.

It was when she looked at him and cracked a genuine, sweet smile. A rarity, of that sort. That was the moment. That was when Peter Parker realised that he was head over heels for Michelle Jones.


	2. Of Roses and Adorable Sneezes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i know the prologue was literally just fluff and like had no plot whatsoever but this chapter is very cute and my fav peter is dorky!peter. also, a few lines in this are radiating a whole lot of lucaya vibes, so look out for that if u watch gmw and ship lucaya. enjoy x

Maybe, he wasn’t exactly in love with Michelle but he definitely had a thing for the Decathlon Captain. Of course, he had gone home and nearly contemplated his whole existence after coming to the earth shattering realisation –What? He had a flair for the dramatics- but he had learnt to accept that he was crushing on MJ over the course of a week. 

It was a week later and Michelle had once again, gotten him to stutter like a doofus when he decided that he was going to get the girl once and for all –in a non-sexist way, of course.

So, he did his research and eventually stumbled upon an article entitled ‘7 Ways to Let Your Crush Know You’re Interested’. There was no way Michelle had a secret evil villain dad, so he was probably in the clear. 

He figured he would get her to understand and hopefully, reciprocate his feelings with seven steps. It seemed simple. He read the first step. 

Be thoughtful. 

He could be thoughtful. He was Spider-Man, he could definitely be thoughtful.  
The next morning, he got up a little earlier than he usually would to get Michelle a thoughtful gift. He ended up with a bouquet of flowers. Michelle was going to love him. Unfortunately, a pair of men decided that it would be the right time to rob a young lady so Peter tugged on his suit as he grumbled about timing and muggers.

By lunch, Peter was a nervous wreck. He hadn’t seen Michelle at all today and half of him was secretly hoping that she had not come to school today although that would’ve been highly unlikely since Michelle never missed a day of school unless she was hospitalized. Her words, not his. 

She broke him out of his reverie by slamming her books onto the table. Peter flinched, studying her as she slammed her head onto her open book. “It’s all your fault, by the way. So, feel bad.” 

Peter didn’t say anything. He wondered if he had actually done something wrong or if Michelle was just being adorably petty. She answered his thoughts. “You made Liz move.”

In that moment, Peter thanked all the Gods above for Michelle not being able to see the sheer look of horror on his face. “W-what?” 

“You drove her away with your adorable little heart eyes, you weirdo.” Michelle looked up at his nervous expression and reached out to pinch his cheeks as she cooed sarcastically. 

Oh, so she didn’t know that he was Spider-Man. On the other hand, his face was as red as a tomato now-all because of her stupid gesture. 

Adorable. 

Adorable was good, right? That was a good thing.

“Are you going to listen to me rant about my horrible day or not?” 

“Y-yeah, go ahead. Floor is yours.” 

Ugh, why was he such a stuttering mess?

“So, like Decathlon is so much of work and I’m not even complaining. Trust me, Peter. I love being Captain and bossing you losers around but Betty, Betty Brant? You know, the girl who Ned has a crush on? Yeah, so she managed to convince me to become a part of the stupid Student Council and I’ve got to plan the stupid Winter Formal? Speaking of, why do we even need a Winter Formal? Don’t we have enough dances?” Michelle rambled.

“Hey, relax, you weirdo.” 

In a swift movement, she grabbed the collar of his shirt and pulled him close to her face. A little too close for a boy who had a crush on her that was the size of Texas. 

Peter gulped.

“Only I get to call you a weirdo,” she let go of him as she spoke again, “But you’re right, I do need to relax. If Liz and the other girls can do it, then I can too, right?” she cracked a half-smile. 

Maybe it was his imagination messing with his mind but Peter swore he saw a tinge of vulnerability in her eyes. Or maybe even…insecurity. He wanted to tell her that she was doing great. That if she didn’t think it was cheesy, he would totally give her a gold star right now-like the ones May would give him when he was little. 

That’s when an idea struck him. 

He dug into his bag and looked at the crumpled roses. Damn those muggers. He picked out the least damaged rose and handed it to her with a bright grin on his face. 

She accepted it, thankfully. He had been so worried about her reaction. Peter wasn’t going to lie, he genuinely thought she would laugh in his face about the cheesy gesture but he hadn’t expected what was next. 

She held it close to her nose, with the slightest hint of a smile on her face. 

And she sneezed. 

It was adorable. The good kind. Peter couldn’t help the slow smile that snuck its way onto his face.

But then she sneezed again. 

And again. 

And again. 

She held the rose away from her at arms length and turned to look at him with so much of horror on her face that he would’ve laughed if it wasn’t all directed at him. 

“Why are you smiling?! You knew I was allergic to roses, didn’t you? How did you-I didn’t even know I was allergic to roses! Is this some sort of prank, Par-“ she was cut off by her sneezing. 

Peter scrambled to his feet and grabbed the single rose and put it on the next table before looking at her frantically, “Are you okay?!”

She was rubbing her adorably red nose, “What does it look like?”

Peter would smile if she wasn’t so mad at him. Only MJ would be able to keep up the sarcastic behaviour while suffering from an allergy attack.

“I swear. I had no idea you were allergic to roses! I just-I had a bunch of flowers in my bag and you looked really stressed and I thought you needed it,” he looked down at his fumbling fingers.

Great, he just messed everything up.

She tilted her head and looked at him, “So, you just wanted to give me a red rose?”

“Yes-not really. I mean-I just, thought you needed it.”

“You thought I needed a rose?”

“…Yes?”

The bell rang, signalling the end of lunch.

Peter stood up abruptly, grabbing his backpack and standing in front of her, “I’m so sorry. I’ve got to go.”

“What are you sorry for? The roses or for leaving?”

“Both. So sorry.” he apologised before scurrying off to class. 

He facepalmed. Wonderfully executed, Parker.


	3. Faded (I'm Wrapped in Your Arms)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm literally so tired because i'm so behind schedule and editing this sucks and i'm really homesick?? the title of this chapter is taken from 'the space between a rock and a hard place' by 5sos, in case y'all are wondering. hope you guys like it so far and i'm going to try my very best to have the next chapter up by today or well, night.

Michelle didn’t show up to school the next day. When Peter didn’t see her at lunch, he got worried. Was she actually hospitalised?

Ned was in the library, working on a project with Betty. Yes, Betty Brant, his best friend’s dreams were coming true. 

He stared at his cell phone. 

It wouldn’t hurt to call her, right? Or text. 

Would it be weird if he texted her?

She‘d probably be too sick to text. He should call her. 

His finger hovered over her Caller ID, littered with various heart emojis but then-

What if she was too sick to talk?

Peter shook the thoughts out of his head. He was just calling her, it wasn’t a big deal. Jeez, he really was a weirdo. He clicked on her name and held his phone close to his ear as he braced for the consequences of his actions. 

Just as he was contemplating on ending the call, she answered, “Peter?”

“Michelle? Hi.”

There was an awkward silence as he tried to think of the right words to say without sounding like a creep.

“So, did you call me because you actually wanted to talk or for me to listen to your breathing over the phone?” 

Peter snorted at that, “Right, I was just…concerned,” Concerned? What-Who says that? God, he wanted to web his own mouth shut. “I mean, you weren’t at school today and I still remember when you-“

“...You wanna know if I’m hospitalised?” He could hear the smile in her voice.

“Yeah?”

“I’m actually at home. I’ve got these really bad allergies, I wonder why.” Michelle teased. 

Peter’s eyes widened, “Is this because of my roses?”

The silence on the other end gave him his answer.

Peter panicked. 

“Hey, you’re probably panicking right now or beating yourself up over it but trust me, it’s not your fault. Relax, would ya?” her soothing –and a little nasally- voice calmed him down.

“Sorry about that.” 

“You better be scared when you see me on Monday though,” And the Michelle he knew was back. “I’ll strike when you least expect it.”

Peter laughed, to cover up the tiny part of him that was genuinely scared by her threat.

“Oh, and tell Cindy to replace me today at Decathlon. I’ve gotta go. I feel a big sneeze coming up. “

And she ended the call. 

Peter wanted to do something. 

So, he decided to pay her a visit. He skimmed over the article that made him give MJ the roses. The next step was to remember little details. This had to be the easiest one by far, Peter had observed everything about her. From the way she scrunched up her nose and smiled whenever he or Ned said something nerdy to how she would always tie her hair up on Wednesdays- like it was some sort of routine for her. 

It wasn’t long before he found himself standing outside her apartment door, panicking. Somehow, as if she could sense him panicking from inside, she opened the door and stared at him- looking annoyed. “What are you doing here?”

“I felt bad, about the roses and allergies,” he took in her appearance. Her hair was in a messy bun, her glasses resting on the crown of her head. She was wearing a Midtown High sweater and a pair of shorts. Peter didn’t even know she owned shorts. Speaking of, Michelle had only ever worn skinny jeans in school. Peter had always known that she had a pair of killer legs but man, this was-

“Eyes up here, buddy.”

Peter’s eyes widened, “...I brought soup?”

Michelle dragged him in. 

This was his chance. Remember little details. He had to show her that he remembered little details about her. “I remembered when you were pissed because you ran out of chamomile tea so I bought you some,” Peter held up the box full of teabags.

Michelle’s head was tilted to the side as she looked at him. A slow smile was creeping onto her face as she said, “Thanks.”

Peter nodded as he faced away from her and made her the soup, trying to ignore the way his heart fluttered at her smile. He set the bowl of soup on the coffee table and flicked through the channels on TV, stopping on a news station that was airing footage of him or well, Spider-Man swinging through New York. 

“We have Netflix, you know. You don’t have to watch the news.”

“I know,” Peter smirked as an idea sprung to his mind. “So, what do you think of that spider guy?”

“I don’t know,” Michelle shrugged as she took a sip of her soup. “He did save our decathlon team from plunging to their death so he’s fine, I guess.”

Peter was not satisfied with her answer.

“Fine? He’s awesome. He literally swings from building to building!”

“Which is kinda creepy when you think about it, like where do those webs come from? Are they inside him?” MJ shuddered with disgust.

“Michelle, I’m pretty sure it comes from a device.” 

Michelle rolled her eyes and smiled at him, “Well, I’m sorry I don’t have a crush on him like you do.” 

“I do not have a crush on him!”

Michelle stared at him for a second, as if she was scrutinizing him. Then, her lips curled into a Chesire Cat grin, “I know. I was just messing with you. I guess it’d be cool to swing from one skyscraper to the other.”

Satisfied, Peter opened the Netflix app.  “What are we watching?”

“The Lion King.”  
—  
If someone had told Peter that he would be spending his Friday night consoling a crying MJ, he would’ve laughed in their face because Michelle never cried- or had little to no emotion. 

But here he was, with his arms wrapped around the teenager whose shoulders were shaking with sobs after the death of Mufasa. The movie was paused now, and Peter desperately wanted to tell her that it was okay and it was just a lion. 

After he had finally gotten her to calm down, he leaned back on the sofa carefully- afraid that he would unknowingly strike a nerve in her and she would go back to crying. 

The sound of her voice startled him, “I’m not a wimp, you know. It’s just...familiar. I was 10, and my dad, he’d just lectured me because I was being stupid and I wanted to apologise to him again but he was lying on the floor and-and I panicked.”

She was fiddling with the loose thread on her sweater, refusing to meet his eyes. “It was brutal. There was a period of time in my life where I wondered if it was my fault but my mom, she’d really been there for me, you know? I love her, with all my heart but sometimes, it just-it gets a little rough.” 

“Michelle, I-“

“No, it’s ok. You don’t have to say anything.” her frail voice cut him off.

And he didn’t. 

Instead, Peter settled for wrapping his arms around MJ and never letting go.


	4. Sleeping Beauty, Indeed

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> everyone here is judging me because they think that i'm just watching movies on my laptop!!! and as someone with anxiety, that is really getting to me!! ughhh!! oh well, this chapter is really special to me and it's super cute and fluffy and peter just has a massive crush on her and thinks that she's the prettiest girl in this whole wide world. hope u guys like it.

Peter snuck through the front door, praying that Aunt May wasn’t in the living room. For once, the Gods seemed to be on his side as he let out a relieved sigh at the empty room.

Once he was confined within the safety of his room, he flopped onto his bunk bed with a sigh. He still had to do his patrolling around Queens but he was beyond exhausted. Nevertheless, he tugged his suit on and wandered around Queens, looking for trouble.

After helping a bunch of old ladies cross the streets and a little boy find his mom, Peter sat on the fire escape of his building, chewing on a pack of gummy worms. Fiddling with his phone, he impulsively clicked on Michelle’s name. 

“Peter? This better not be another one of your butt-dials.”

“It isn’t. I used my fingers.” 

Peter cringed at his choice of words. Was that too sexual? Was she weirded out? She probably was.

“I’m-Ned and I,” Peter fumbled for the right words to say, “Sleepover at my house? Ned will be there.”

Yes, Peter. Way to take the advice of the article. The third step was to spend time with said crush and Peter was determined to spend as much time as he could with Michelle. 

“You’re asking me out?”

“Wha-no! I’m not asking you out!” Peter’s voice became unusually high pitched at the end, “Well, maybe I’m asking you out, but like on a sleepover date! With Ned!”

“OK.”

“Wait, was that an OK to coming over on Saturday or an OK as in, you understand that I’m not asking you out?”

“Both. See you Saturday, loser.”

Peter grinned.  
\---  
Michelle waltzed into his apartment as if she owned the place, and set a bunch of snacks on his dinner table. 

Ned appeared behind her, rolling his eyes, “She would not stop tormenting me on the way here.”

MJ ignored his comment as her gaze wandered around the quaint apartment and finally settled on Peter, “Where’s your aunt?”

“She’s out with her friends.” 

Michelle nodded before settling on the couch, “Please don’t tell me we’re watching a nerd flick.”

Ned shook his head, “They’re not nerd flicks but no, we’re watching Disney movies.” Ned held up a bunch of DVD’s and waved them around excitedly, “We’ll begin with a classic; The Lion King.”

Peter’s eyes widened as he hopped to his feet and lunged for the DVD, grabbing it from Ned. “That will not be necessary.”

Ned flopped down onto the one-seater with a sigh, “Dude! What do you have against The Lion King? No one hates the movie!”

“I just thought that we could start off with a much more…iconic movie,” Peter grabbed the closest DVD beside him and held it close to his face. “…Sleeping Beauty! Yay!”

“Whatever, dude.” Ned said, as he placed the disk into the player. “Prepare to humor me with your excellent commentary throughout this snoozefest of a movie, MJ.” 

Michelle crossed her arms and leaned forward, “Gladly.”

“Oh, thank God.” Peter placed a hand on his chest and fell back against the sofa. 

They had long since finished Sleeping Beauty and were on their fourth movie when MJ nudged him with her elbow. His arms were crossed and he looked at her as he raised an eyebrow as a form of a silent question.

“Thanks for doing what you did back there,” she whispered, alternating between looking at him and looking at Ned.

“No problem.” he shrugged.

Five minutes later, he felt a tap on his shoulder. 

“I don’t want to be annoying or like an emotional sap or anything but really, thank you. For everything.”

Although she was whispering, he knew her well enough to be able to detect the sincerity in her voice. 

Peter smiled and she returned it, but not without one of her quips, of course, “No, really. Thank you for the allergies and making me sit-through one snoozefest of a movie. No wonder, it’s called Sleeping Beauty.”

“Because it makes pretty people like you want to sleep?” Peter’s mouth opened before he could stop it. Peter clamped a hand over his mouth as his eyes got wider by the second.

Michelle’s eyes widened but then they crinkled in amusement as she looked at him and shook her head, “God, you’re weird.”

Peter let out a breath he didn’t know he’d been holding in. Maybe she didn’t think that much of it. It was normal for best friends to think of each other as attractive. 

The sky is blue.

Water is wet.

MJ is pretty. (Really pretty.)

Halfway through the fifth movie and, “So, I’m pretty now?”

Peter groaned, as Michelle chuckled silently. 

They were nearing the end of the movie when he felt something resting on his shoulder. She was asleep, her mouth slightly open as she mumbled something along the lines of, “Hmm…Peter Parker.”

Peter froze when he heard his name. He looked at Ned, who was knocked out on the one-seater and looked back at MJ as she spoke, “Peter Parker…cuddle…not bad.”

Peter furrowed his brow, trying to decipher what her sleep-talking meant.

Fortunately, MJ answered his silent question by snuggling into him and draping an arm across his chest.

Peter smirked. Michelle Jones was a cuddler. An aggressive one, at that but still. Who would’ve thought?

He looked at the sleeping girl next to him, her mouth forming an adorable ‘o’ shape. Then, he grabbed a pillow from the ground and put it on the couch before quickly lowering her head onto the pillow. Once he had successfully covered her body with one of his blankets, he crossed his arms and stared at her. She looked peaceful, beautiful- even with the little bit of drool at the side of her mouth. 

“Fuck it,” he breathed and he leant down pressing a chaste, but quick kiss to her forehead. He pulled away, looking at her gently with -no doubt,- hearts in his eyes, “Goodnight, MJ.”


	5. Like A Fantasy (In Front of Me)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> peter is a teenage boy and michelle is super hot. who can blame him for fantasizing about her?

Body language. 

That was the next step. 

It seemed simple enough, but it was MJ that he was dealing with here. He’d be lucky if he tried to touch her hand while she was talking and she didn’t immediately cut his arm off. 

Thankfully, God sent him an angel in disguise, an experienced man when it came to the subject of women (and men). That man was none other than his mentor and Iron-Dad, Tony Stark. 

He hadn’t gone up to Tony and begged him for advice. It had been quite the opposite, actually. 

He had been waiting for Tony to arrive at the Avengers Mansion for some sort of impromptu update on his life. Meanwhile, he had opened the article on his phone and had decided to try and figure out what exactly the writers of the article meant by ‘body language’ and how he was going to apply it to MJ. 

“Jesus, when did you become a 12 year old girl?” Tony’s voice startled him and he placed a hand over his chest when he saw Tony sit across him with a smirk on his face. 

“Mr Stark, you-I-“

“So, who’s the lucky girl…or guy?” Tony crossed his arms.

“I think you’ve met her before. Michelle? MJ?” 

Tony looked confused, to say the least. 

Peter tried again. “Messy brown hair? Sarcastic? Very pretty?”

It took Tony a moment before his eyes widened in realisation, “Ah, Michelle. She’s the captain of your decathlon team, isn’t she? I haven’t met her but she looked fiery.”

Peter chuckled, “She would kill you just for calling her a ‘fiery’ woman.”

“So, what’s her deal?”

“I have the biggest crush on her. I found this article and it’s-uh, it’s helping,” Peter paused, looking down at his illuminated phone screen. It was helping. Over the past few days, he had gotten closer to Michelle. “They said that I should try and let my body language do the talking, whatever that means but she would not hesitate to kill me if I laid even a finger on her.”

Tony nodded to show that he was listening.

“She’s also really good at reading me. She can be really scary at times, she knows exactly when something is up with you and she will not hesitate to interrogate you, you know? So, she’s gonna know if I do something weird.”

“Kinda sounds like a miniature Pepper.” Peter heard Tony mutter under his breath with a fond smile at the thought of his wife. 

“Well, you don’t have to hold her hand all the time or stand incredibly close to her like a creep. Just, lean in a little whenever she’s talking about something she’s passionate about. Or look into her eyes. The ladies love that.”

Peter processed this newfound information. “Alright, thanks, Mr Stark.”

“Anytime, kiddo. Now, let’s get to talking about your suit…”  
\---  
“Alright, you can do this. C’mon Peter. You can do this.”

“Do what?”

The familiar voice made him hit his head against the walls of his locker in a moment of shock. She was leaning against the locker next to his, observing him with a smirk playing on her lips. 

Peter slammed his locker shut and placed a hand on his chest dramatically, hoping that letting her know that he was beyond startled over her surprise appearance would make her forget about him giving himself a pep talk in his locker, “God, MJ. You scared me!”

MJ scoffed and leaned forward to mess up his carefully styled hair, “Well, I didn’t expect you to be such a little shit.”

Peter lets himself revel in the feeling of her running her hands through his hair-in a completely different scenario, if he was lucky, before snapping back to reality, “I thought you would’ve figured that out by now.”

Michelle smiles for a second but it fades away when the bell rings. She looks at the wall clock hanging over a row of lockers and looks at him, “Alright, you little shit. I’ve got to go. Don’t bail on practice today, Parker.”

Peter stays glued to his spot. That went well. Really well. 

She was the one who initiated contact first.

The halls are almost empty when he sees Ned walking up to him and he is soon dragged to class by a frustrated Ned as he mutters out, “Michelle would kill you and me if you missed practice today because you got detention.”  
\---  
Peter was having a queasy feeling about lunch. He was feeling a mixture of nervousness and excitement. 

They were in the library during 4th period, earlier that day when Peter had tried to use the language of his body to communicate with MJ. Suffice to say, it hadn’t really gone as he planned.

They were both hunched in front of a computer screen, doing research on a project that was supposed to be 20% of their grade. The close proximity between the two did not go unnoticed by Peter. 

Peter had casually slung his arm around her waist, his heart beating a mile a minute when she leaned closer to the computer screen. He remembers wanting to let out a sigh of relief when she didn’t question his actions. Either that, or she never noticed at all. 

He hadn’t noticed at the time, but he had gotten too carried away with staring at her face- waiting for her to blow up at him that she had turned her head to face him, making their noses inches apart. 

This was his moment, he thought. 

He could kiss her. 

He was about to lean in when her eyebrows furrowed in confusion, “What are you doing? Are all the answers on my face?” Then, she had proceeded to turn back to the computer, forcing Peter to mimic her actions. 

Yes, he wanted to answer. In an overly cheesy way, all the answers he had ever been searching for were on her face. 

Peter walked into the cafeteria, unconsciously smiling when he saw Michelle laughing and Ned rolling his eyes. 

He set his tray onto the table and both Ned and MJ stopped talking immediately. He didn’t think much of it as Ned pulled out his phone and showed the two of them a meme on his phone. With a snort, MJ launched into a story about the topic of the meme and Peter decided to put Tony’s advice to the test.

It failed when she stopped talking entirely and turned to face him, drawing Ned’s attention too.

Peter snapped out of his daze, “What?”

“Is there something on my face?” Michelle inquired carefully, her eyebrow raised.

“No…”

“Then quit staring at it.” 

Peter’s mouth hung open just as Betty approached the table, stealing Michelle away from the boys.

“Dude,” Ned nudged him. “You have a crush on MJ.”

Peter frantically looked in MJ’s direction, she was already walking through the doors of the cafeteria, “Not so loud!”

Ned looked like he had just made an earth shattering discovery, “It all makes so much sense now! The roses, you inviting her to the sleepover, her falling asleep on you, you staring at her like a creep. Oh my god. You’re dating. You’re dating, aren’t you?”

Peter panicked, awkwardly facing Ned who looked like he was on the verge of telling everyone about his crush, “What? Ned, no-we’re not dating! How do you even know about the roses?!”

“She called me and told me,” Peter’s eyes widened. “Then, she also told me to check in on you and make sure that you’re okay.”

“Do you think she knows?”

“I’d be surprised if she didn’t, what with all the staring you’ve been doing. Man, I can’t believe I thought you were just daydreaming!”

Peter groaned, “We’ve been getting closer but I don’t want her to think I’m a creep!”

“Tone it down a little, with the staring. And with the eye-fucking.”

“Dude!”

 


	6. She Loves Me, She Loves Me Not

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> holy shit!! i can't thank you guys enough for the amount of suport i've gotten for this fic!!! 900+ hits??? holy shit!! here's a new chapter! i love you guys so much!

“Mr Parker, are you still with us?”

Peter blinked as he stood a little straighter, realising that everyone was looking at him, “Uh, yeah.”

Five minutes later, he felt something hit the back of his head. He recognized it as a paper airplane.

He opened it and recognized the scrawl almost immediately.

_Hey, loser. You okay?_

_-MJ_

Peter smiled, and looked up to find her already staring back at him, a smile playing on her lips.

‘Pay attention, loser.’ she mouthed as she pointed at the blackboard with her highlighter. When he made no effort to avert his eyes from her face, she rolled her eyes and smiled, turning to highlight something in her textbook.

This time, a scrunched up piece of paper in the shape of a ball, hit the back of his head. He opened the letter immediately, hoping it was from MJ.

_What did I tell you about the staring?_

_-Ned_

Peter turned around to find Ned giving him an especially pointed look. Peter rolled his eyes and chucked it back at Ned, who caught it with a smile on his face.

He was enjoying this.

Of course, he’s enjoying this.

When he was crushing on Liz, neither Peter nor Ned could do anything about it because she was a senior and she was just so out of their league.

Not that Michelle was exactly in their league either. She was so unbelievably cool and calm, there was no way she was on the same level as them on the social ladder. She was really pretty too and Peter knew that looks, did in fact play a role on every student’s status on the social ladder.

Even if she was a little popular, Michelle never seemed to notice the sudden increase in her number of ‘friends’, or maybe she just chose not to acknowledge it. It was probably the latter. She rarely ever showed it, but she was genuinely a kind person.

Amidst all the glaring and sarcasm, Peter knew that there was a soft, sweet girl beneath the badass exterior. He had seen it before.

There was the time when the newest asset to their decathlon team -a freshman who had been recommended by Cindy- had a mini panic attack right before one of their competitions and MJ was the one who tossed her flashcards at Peter and ran after Josh…or was it Jake?

At that time, Peter had thought that she was going to yell at…John? He remembers giving Ned a look and whispering, “I would not want to be him right now,” as Ned nodded in agreement.

Later, when Flash would whine about them taking so long and he would send Peter out to look for them, he would find MJ crouching in front of the boy and giving him a tiny pep talk, all while rubbing his back soothingly and sending him a gentle smile.

Peter remembers his jaw dropping in shock and Ned doing a double take when he followed Peter out into the hallway. They both watched as she took his hand and gently got him to stand up.

When James –or Joe?- looked like he was going to go off again, MJ held his hand and said, “Hey, don’t worry, ok? Your parents are going to be so proud of you and if they aren’t, you’ll have us. I know it’s not much, but I will be so proud of you for doing this and still going out there. Now, go out there and get ready to kick some nerd ass!”

The boy smiled up at her and MJ returned it with one of her own. “Now that I’ve said it out loud, it kinda sounds like Flash’s daily mantra, don’t you think? Like,” Michelle dropped her voice to a lower octave and recited the words, “Go out there and get ready to kick some nerdy ass!”

That resulted in the boy letting out a tiny chuckle, which made MJ smile in satisfaction.

As she was walking him back to the hall, he remembers her shooting a glare at the two of them as they both scurried down the hallway. The whole interaction had just further proved his point that Michelle Jones was a huge soft-

“Peter!”

Peter blinked and looked around, the class was empty now, save for him and another person. His eyes scanned the area as he looked for the source of his name being called.

Michelle rolled her eyes and placed her books on top of his, making him carry them for her, “Stop being such a loser!”

She steered him out of the class, “I need your full attention during decathlon today, you hear me? I can’t have you going around and staring at my face but not actually listening to a word that comes out of my mouth.”

“I-I don’t, I wasn’t staring at you!” The pitch of his voice increased a little more, if that was even possible.

“Whatever makes you happy, buddy.”

Peter continued to protest, “I-“

MJ smirked and used the palm of her hand to cover his mouth as she spoke to him in mock seriousness, “Peter, I don’t blame you. I know that I am generally, an attractive person, just-keep your eyes to yourself, ok? And while we’re at it, eyes up here, alright?”

Peter flushed red.

“See you later, loser.” Michelle smiled a sickeningly sweet smile as she grabbed her books from his grip and got on her way, looking at him over her shoulder one last time before scurrying off to her next class.

Boy, was he screwed.

\---

Peter set his tray down right next to Ned’s as he dropped his bag beside him.

“Dude,” Peter settled in onto the bench, “I think she knows.”

Ned’s eyes widened, “No way. MJ knows that you’re Spider-Man?!”

Peter groaned at the volume of Ned’s voice, “No! I meant,” he dropped his voice to a whisper, “about my crush on her?”

Ned relaxed for a moment before going off again, in true Ned fashion.

“Oh no, did she say something? She said something, right?”

Peter recalled the previous conversation with her and a small smile snuck on his face, “I think…maybe, she was…flirting with me?”

Ned’s eyes widened as he abruptly dropped his sandwich onto his tray.

“Oh my God! What?!”

“I know!”

Ned tilted his head to the side, “What did she say? Tell me everything!”

Peter was about to speak when Michelle herself, took her place in front of them. She dug into her salad and looked up at Ned, “What do you want Peter to tell you?”

Peter shot a frantic look at Ned.

“Just, you know…”

Michelle popped a strawberry into her mouth, distracting Peter.

Her lips curled up into an amused smile, “No, I do not know.”

She had very nice lips. All that staring he did at her face and her eyes made him overlook the most important feature of them all- her lips. Peter briefly wondered if she could do that cherry knot thing with her tongue as he watched her lick her lips. Nope, don’t go there, Parker. Don’t think about her tongue, you’re vying into dangerous territory-

Ned nudged him with his elbow, “…Life, as we know it. You know, the usual stuff.”

Michelle raised her eyebrows, “Right, because you guys definitely do not usually ever talk about nerd films or superheroes. Instead, you philosophers choose to discuss life.”

Michelle put the lid on her half eaten salad and stood up, “Right, well, I’m going to head over to the library and give you two some well needed privacy to think about life. See you in bio.”

Peter snapped out of his daze, feeling bad that his dorkiness was forcing Michelle to leave.

“MJ, wait! You can stay, we won’t be weird.”

“Yeah, really, you can stay.” Ned agreed.

“That’s sweet, but I actually have some things I need to work on alone.” Michelle nodded, declining their offer.

She ruffled Peter’s hair, “Get your head in the game, Bolton.”

“Did you just-did she just?” Ned was at a loss for words.

“Quote High School Musical?” she piped, as she swung her backpack over her shoulder and walked towards the exit.

She offered them one last smirk over her shoulder before disappearing from sight.

Peter was really starting to love these over the shoulder looks she was throwing at him. Didn’t it mean something when a girl turned around to give you one last look?

\---

“Peter, dude, I love you, but you’re acting like a 12 year-old girl.”

Peter averted his gaze from the flower with three petals left and looked over at Ned who was watching him perform the ‘She loves me, she loves me not’ routine with a poor daisy.

Ned dragged the rolley chair closer to Peter’s bed, “For what it’s worth, MJ is a very unpredictable girl. It’s not your fault for not being able to read the signs.”

Peter shrugged. “The thing is, she could’ve been flirting with me, but she also could’ve been teasing me-like a sister teases her brother.” Peter gasped, “What if she only sees me as a brother?”

Peter dodged the pillow that was hurled in his direction.

“To quote your future girlfriend, ‘Quit being a loser, Peter.’” Ned deadpanned.

“I wish.” Peter mumbled.

“I heard that!” Ned teased, with a saccharine smile on his face.

“Well, I said it out loud, didn’t I?”

“God, you sound like MJ! They say couples start to pick up on each other’s behaviour when they date and you guys haven’t even started dating yet, can you imagine the outcome when you guys actually date? What if she becomes all smiley and giggly when you guys date?” Ned shuddered.

“That would be cute.”

“Yeah, for you.”

Peter pushed the thoughts out of his head, “Wait, wait, first, we need to get her to like me!”

“I have a plan!”

Peter sat up straight, when Ned uttered those words.

“Right now, she’s giving you mixed signals, right? You’re not sure if she’s actually flirting with you or if she’s teasing you, so, we put her in a situation where she has absolutely no choice but to either explicitly flirt with you or shun you- like she usually does.”

“Ned,” Peter began trying to find the holes in his plan, “That might actually work.”

 

**  
**


	7. Your Friendly, Neighbourhood, Spider-Boy?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i love this chapter and it's very important because after this chapter, shit starts happening. good luck, spideychelle.

Peter had never spoken to any of them before whilst being Spider-Man.

Well, maybe, besides the whole decathlon team from the DC incident, but that was it.

Yet here he was, arguing with MJ over her capability to defend herself.

“Really, Spider-boy, I could have fought them. I’m a black belt, you know. And I also take boxing classe-“

“I know,” Peter groaned because really, he _did_ know.

When Peter asked her why her hand was shaking during one of their study dates, she moaned and groaned about her boxing classes- blaming it all on men who couldn’t keep it in their pants and thought that consent didn’t matter.

Two weeks later when her hand consequently stopped shaking after every boxing class, she gloated and boasted about how she could probably take him down if she really wanted to- to which Peter thought, _if she only knew_.

“It’s just-my job to protect. Well, it’s not exactly my job, it’s just a…” Peter fumbled for the right words to say when she cut him off.

“Responsibility?”

“Yeah. Well, I’ll be on my way now, fair citizen. Stay out of trouble!” he said in a very generic voice as he swung out of the dark alley and settled on the fire escape of an apartment as he watched her make her way back to her apartment building.

Ever since the incident where Peter stopped a mugging that saw MJ as the victim, he had taken to seeing her home whenever he wasn’t out helping little children find their parents or returning stolen bikes.

He made sure to send Tony a very elaborate text message, filled with emojis to thank him for inserting the voice cloaking feature. To which he replied, ‘LOL. No problem, kid.’ Peter rolled his eyes at that one. Classic Tony.

What he didn’t expect was for MJ to approach him. To actually walk up to a man –or boy- dressed from head to toe in bright red and blue spandex and to talk to said person.

“Hey! Hey, Spider-boy!” She had said one day, as he was chilling on the roof of a building.

She was using a hand to keep the Sun out of her eyes as she stared up at him.

Peter, startled as always, turned on his voice cloak before saying, “Ah yes, Ms I-don’t-need-your-help-because-I-go-for-boxing-classes!”

Peter cringed, that sounded way smoother in his head.

She smiled, her look morphing into one of surprise before inquiring, “You remember me?’

Peter grinned as he crossed his arms, “Well, you’re the only human being in New York who does not refer to me as Spider-Man and you’re also the only citizen of Queens who refused my help.”

“Only human being?”

“Thor calls me ‘Man of Spiders’,” Peter shrugged and MJ chuckled. “Also, 'Spiderling'.” Peter elaborated with a shrug, wanting to make her laugh.

“Um, speaking of refusing your help,” MJ smiled at her Doc Martens sheepishly before looking up at him, “I kind of need your help.”

Peter sprung to his feet, hoping that she was not in any sort of danger. Michelle seemed to sense his sudden protective instincts as she said, “Chill dude, I’m fine. It’s uh- my…”

Peter sighed in relief.

She was looking at everything but him now, “My cat.”

Peter crawled down the side of the building and landed in front of her, shoulders broad, arms crossed and a lopsided grin she couldn’t see. “Your cat?”

Of course, Peter knew she had a cat. He had interacted with said cat on numerous occasions. He would never admit it but the cat did kind of remind him of her. It’s warm brown eyes, soft fur and boy, could that cat scratch you.

Kind of like Michelle, it was guarded, claws out and eyes narrowed as it looked like it was ready to pounce on anyone that took even a step towards Michelle. Though, once it got used to you, it was soft and gentle and purred and loved warm belly rubs. Peter had briefly wondered if Michelle had a soft side to her when the cat warmed up to him for the first time. Turns out, he was right. They were a match made in heaven- her and her cat.

“See, my cat’s missing and I’m so sure the little shit is on one of the roofs but I’m not as stealthy as you and I don’t have enhanced senses so I thought you could help me, if you weren’t too busy with all your superhero work-like helping old ladies cross the road and-“

“OK, I’ll do it! Where is she?”

Michelle pointed at some of the highest apartment roofs and Peter rolled his eyes at her cat before doing some web slinging. At least it wasn’t the Washington Monument, right?

Michelle’s cat, Angela was not in the mood to be found, especially by some guy in spandex with bright primary colors. He looked around cautiously, before pulling his mask off, revealing his familiar face to Angela. She purred in delight before crawling into his arms and Peter let out a relieved noise, tugging his mask back on and making his descent.

“That’s cute,” she said, when he landed in front of her.

Peter’s eyes widened behind the mask, “W-what?”

Michelle rolled her eyes, “I was talking about the cat, not you.”

“I knew that.”

“She likes you,” Michelle gestured at the purring cat in his arms. “It’s odd, she’s usually a little protective of me.”

“At least you’ll let someone protect you,” Peter mumbled under his breath as he handed the cat over to her.

She laughed, “I heard that. I’ll have you know that a relationship like ours is super rare. She’s literally like a cat version of me.”

“That seems about right. She’s cute too.”

Once again, Peter’s mouth proved that it definitely had a mind of its own.

Michelle tilted her head to the side curiously, as if she was studying him, “Did you just try to flirt with me?”

Peter shrugged and Michelle nodded slightly- she looked mildly amused, “Alright, Spider-Man, I’ll be on my way.”

Peter nodded, mumbling a very generic goodbye before pausing and going, “You called me Spider-Man!”


	8. If You're Lost In This Darkness, I'll Carry Your Throne

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> honestly the title of this chapter is shit but the chapter is actually good and full of drama and something happens at the end that might leave y'all shook (don't skip to the end losers) anyway enjoy!

Peter was spiralling.

It was all a blur at first, it seemed almost unreal, like a dream come true-

And he just messed it all up.

_No,_ he reminded himself. _This was for her. It_ _was for her good._

He made this decision, whatever the consequences were, he could face it. He had to face it.

God, he just wished he could turn back time and go back to that Friday when things were good and it wasn’t a mess.

He let his head fall into his hands as he relived the truly shocking series of events.

_Two Days Ago_

Peter scrolled through his contact list with a smile, clicking on MJ’s caller ID as Ned shook his head endearingly at Peter’s state of mind- in love.

He was in love with MJ.

It had scared him at first, but he learned to embrace it just as he did with his crush on her.

Loving her was not going to be easy, he knew that. Maybe it was cheesy, but just knowing that he was in love with her was enough to get Peter going and determined.

When she didn’t answer on the first ring, Peter rolled his eyes and looked at Ned, “Typical MJ.”

It was when she didn’t answer the spam of text messages that Ned sent her or the fifth call that Peter had dialled- when Peter suited up.

Ned was on the phone with Peter, hunched in front of Peter’s computer as he looked at the screen with worried eyes, trying to desperately search for a sign that MJ was safe and unharmed.

Peter arrived at the fire escape and anxiously peeped through her window.

“She’s not in her room.” Peter said, mind distant and voice small.

“We’ll find her, Peter. Don’t worry.”

That was all he could bring himself to do, at this point. Worry. He’d gone to all her favourite spots in Queens, and she was nowhere to be found.

Ned was in his ear, distracting him, making sure that Peter’s mind didn’t escape to a much more dangerous place.

“Wait, Peter. Didn’t Tony install a tracker on her phone? Like the one on my phone and May’s ph-“

“Ned, you’re a genius! I need you to log in to my account- the password is on the top left of my computer.”

Peter chewed on the frayed fabric of his suit as he listened to the oddly satisfying sound of Ned typing away on the keyboard.

Then, suddenly, silence.

“Ned? Ned, are you ok?”

“MJ, she’s…she’s at an abandoned warehouse in-hold up, I’m sending you the location.”

Peter went quiet when he pulled up the address that was sent to him by Ned. It didn’t take a genius to figure out what she was doing in an abandoned warehouse situated in a shady area of Queens.

“Karen, what’s the fastest route to the warehouse?”

Karen led the way and Peter swung his webs like his life depended on it and thank God for Ned, keeping him grounded through the phone in times like these.

“Peter, listen to me. I’ve got eyes on the building. There are like two men at each entrance. They knew you’d be here, Peter. You can’t go in like that.” Ned warned him.

Peter hid behind the bushes, “Do you know where she is?”

“Give me a second…” Ned trailed off and Peter asked Karen to perform facial recognition on every one of these goons for him to make sure that they would be in jail later.

“She’s in the basement. They’ve strapped her to a chair with some rope and she’s talking to a guy in a ski mask. Or, well, I think, provoking him.” Ned said, after a few minutes.

“They haven’t touched her yet, right? Or done anything to her?”

“No, they-woah!”

Some rattling was heard on Ned’s line.

Ned sucked in a deep breath before saying, “He just slapped her.”

Peter’s hands were clenched in fists when Ned spoke again, his voice softer this time, “Peter, she’s crying.”

“Ned, give me a way in without going unnoticed or an entrance with the weakest men. Keep an eye on the basement and let me know if they do anything to her.”

It wasn’t long before Peter made it in, unnoticed. Soon, he’s found a way into the basement.

Peter took a deep breath. She could be behind any of these doors.

Peter burst through the first door, distracting the man next to MJ, “Hey buddy! Sorry I kept you waiting, got held up in traffic.”

The man, inches from her face, looked at Peter in shock -MJ rolled her eyes-, before he smirked and opened his mouth, ready to deliver a borderline creepy comment when MJ knocked her head against his, forcing him to stagger back.

He clutched his head in pain, before calling for backup on his walkie talkie.

She flips forward, purposefully breaking her chair in the process.

The guy with the ski mask on, corners her, trying to put her in a chokehold. She twists his arm and elbows him in the ribs all as Peter watches, hands hovering over his web shooters.

More men enter from the second entrance and MJ fends them off as she keeps her eyes on the exit. Ned’s voice booms in his ear, “Dude! What are you doing? You can be shocked about this later! There’s no way she’ll be able to take all of them alone.”

Peter nods, knowing that Ned can see him before swinging into action. He webs two men to the wall and MJ mutters something in Ski Mask Guy’s ear before gritting her teeth and kicking him to the ground as she slips away, unnoticed by Peter.

When he’s done with webbing the criminals to the wall and handing Ski Mask Guy over to the police, he steps outside of the warehouse and calls, “Ned? You still there?”

“Yeah.” Ned’s voice is distracted, much like his attention.

“Where’s MJ?”

“She left like 15 minutes ago. A cop took her home.”

Peter nods and makes his way home.

When he slides through his window, he sees Ned on the computer, eyes wide, turning to him as he says, “Permission to freak out?”

Peter slips out of his suit and tugs on a pair of shorts as he plays the footage of the fight that Ned recorded.

“That was awesome! Holy shit, who knew that MJ was secretly an assassin? What if she’s a spy? She’s the coolest person at Midtown! I can’t believe-why aren’t you freaking out with me?”

“How did they take her? And why?”Peter’s quiet voice made Ned sigh.

“She was on her way to the library, apparently, and they tried to kidnap her for organs or something so they knocked her out and drove her to the warehouse. Then, they got a hold of a photo of her talking to you- as Spider-Man, and they assumed she was your girlfriend. They were planning to torture her in front of you.”

Ned looked at the ground.

As is sensing Peter’s thoughts, Ned spoke, “Peter, it’s not your fault. They were-“

“Ned, she could’ve died! Or gotten raped! Who knows what those sick men would have done to her?”

Peter was pacing the room now, his mind racing as Ned watched him.

“I sent the footage to Tony and the NYPD basically forced it out of his hands, but he said they’ve found links to the other members of this gang.”

“Wait, Mr Stark saw that?”

Just as those words left Peter’s mouth, his cellphone rang. Peter looked at the caller ID and sighed as he answered the call, “Mr Stark?”

“Hey, kid. Good job on busting the gang. Uh, I know it must be hard for you, and you probably think that it’s your fault but it’s not. It’s not her fault either, this could’ve happened to anyone.” Tony reassured him through the phone and he nodded, trying to convince himself- for Tony, at least that it wasn’t his fault.

“Natasha saw the footage. She’s impressed. She could train your girl if you’d like- have you told her yet? About you being…Spider-Man?”

“Uh, not- not yet.” Peter sighed.

“Ah, I see. Well, call me or Happy if you need anything.”

“Yeah. Alright. Bye, Dad.”

“Later, Son.”

And Tony ended the call.

Ned, again, looked shocked, “You call Tony Stark, genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist _, Iron-Man_ , ‘Dad’ and he calls you ‘son’?!”

“Yeah, he’s basically adopted me now so…” Peter shrugged as if he didn’t freak out when Tony had first referred to him as ‘son’ mid-battle, in front of the rest of the Avengers.

“Would Ant-Man ever adopt me?”

“You know, Ned, he probably would.”

_One Day Ago_

Did Peter really ever get over of the thought of nearly losing MJ?

The answer to that question, was no.

Sure, he sat with Ned for like an hour after the call from Tony and gushed over MJ probably being a SHIELD agent or an undercover spy. Then, he put on his mask and asked Karen to analyse her fight patterns from the footage of the fight. Turns out, her fight patterns were strangely similar to that of Black Widow.

His phone rang after that and he had to listen to Natasha and Wanda rant about how badass MJ was, to which he replied, “She goes for boxing classes.”

And after Natasha and Wanda reprimanded him over the phone for not telling her about his secret identity and basically depriving them of having another woman around to both train and complain to, May made him help her with the cupcakes she was trying to bake- which involved a lot of dancing and frosting splattered all over the kitchen counter.

But he never really got over the incident.

Here he was, on a Sunday night, home alone and worrying over MJ.

A few minutes later, a knock sounded on his door.

He opened the door to Michelle, standing before him and fiddling with her jacket.

“MJ, you-you wanna come in?” Peter asked nervously after a beat.

“I’d rather just do this out here,” she gestured to her surroundings and Peter nodded, slightly confused.

“After yesterday, I realised something. I was so close to a near-death experience and I realised that I didn’t want to live this way-” she laughed nervously.

Before she could continue, Peter cut in, “What happened to you yesterday? We tried to look for you and-“

“Peter, I know.” Peter’s mouth opened, ready to deliver a lie when she explained, “I saw you take off your mask the other day- when you were helping me find Angela?”

Peter nodded slowly, “So, on Saturday, you knew?”

“What? That, it was you under the mask when you attempted to save me but froze because you were in total awe of my badass-ery? Honestly, I've had my suspicions about you.”

He smiled.

“Anyway, before we got off topic, I’m just going to go ahead and say it. You know, what I was about to say just now.”

Peter nodded eagerly.

“I like you. In a I-want-to-hold-your-hand-and-be-your-girlfriend kind of way. I’ve never had any friends like you and Ned before so I assumed that I felt that way because I really liked you as a friend and then I would do these things that weren’t very friendly like- remember the roses? The reason why I got sick that night was because I brought your rose back home, which was very stupid but it meant a lot to me.”

“And that day when Ned was talking about some girl wanting to ask you out, I was very…upset and I tried to change the topic and I told myself it was just protective instincts kicking in but they’re not, and I know that now."

"All I'm saying is, think about it, but don’t stress yourself out. See you at school tomorrow.”

And with that, she left- leaving him alone and shocked.

MJ liked him.

Holy shit, she liked him back.

He couldn’t believe it.

He was pacing, on the ceiling.

But after all that had happened yesterday, did he really want to put her in that sort of danger? She knows he’s Spider-Man now, but it would be so much harder to avoid these attacks if she became his girlfriend. Maybe, he should just keep her safe.

Peter shook his head. He’s wanted this, wanted her, for so long. How could he just let her go like that?

But if you love something, you let it go.

Peter groaned frustratedly, and went to bed.

_A few hours ago_

“Hey, MJ!” Peter called out, from across the hallway.

He saw her pause and turn around as her eyes scanned the sea of students for him.

He sighed in relief and walked to her locker, where she was getting her things out for lunch. She slammed her locker shut, in an overly scary way and crossed her arms.

“About yesterday, I…”

Her warm eyes looked at his, with so much of hope, understanding, and a tinge of nervousness.

It was all so foreign, yet somehow so MJ.

“You’re the smartest girl I’ve ever known, and you’re really pretty and kind- in your weird, own way. You deserve someone who loves you, who’s in love with you.”

A small smile made its way onto her face.

Peter sighed, clasping his hands together, “That person is not me.”

_Present Time_

The bell rang, snapping Peter out of his daze. He grabbed his bag and walked out of his class with a sigh.


	9. I'm Just The Sucker Who Let You Fill Her Mind

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okayyyyyyyyyy our very first michelle pov!!!!!!! i hope you guys feel like punching peter and also giving michelle hugs and constant love and affection by the end of this extra long chapter

“That person is not me.”

Peter’s eyes, desperate for her to give him an answer, to say anything, searched hers.

Michelle felt her mood deflate, along with her self-esteem, “Oh.”

That was the only thing she could say at this point.

How was she even supposed to feel?

Sure, she’s had crushes before, and all of them were unrequited…so why was this different?

“I-it’s nothing personal! You’re really cool and I’m sure there’s someone out there who would date you but I’m just…not ready for a relationship right now?” Peter rambled, and Michelle wanted to punch herself. She knew what he was trying to do; he wanted her to feel better.

Michelle sucked in a deep breath and plastered on a fake smile, “N-no, it’s fine. Really, I misread the whole situation.”

Peter looked at her skeptically, “Really?”

“Yeah, um-it’s good.” MJ stuck her hands into her jean pockets, and bounced on the balls of her feet.

She sucked it up and tried the hardest she could to go back to being her normal self throughout the whole of lunch period but she must’ve been doing a terrible job because when Peter left to go throw away his trash, Ned placed a hand on her shoulder and asked her if she was okay.

“Hey, Peter! Got a minute?” she called and he turned around.

He looked nervous. She rolled her eyes, “I’m not going to throw myself at you, stop looking so nervous.”

Peter visibly relaxed and she spoke, “This is weird, I’m sorry. I just want us to go back to the way we were before I became all emotional and told you about my little crush.”

Peter nodded, in understanding, “Y-Yeah, me too.”

“Great. Don’t miss practice today, loser.”

Michelle tried not to wince when she said that and punched his shoulder awkwardly before heading off to her class.

* * *

As much as it hurt knowing that Peter didn’t like her back, –after his serious flirting with her as both Spider-Man and Peter Parker- she was grateful that her friendship with both Peter and Ned didn’t take a turn for the worst along the way.

The day after Peter had let her down gently, it was evident that Ned knew about her confession because he kept looking at her with different types of emotions for the whole day.

In 1st period, he looked angry. To which she thought, it’s not my fault your best friend doesn’t like me back! Well, maybe a little-

By lunch, he looked like he was trying to send her signals, to convey a message but Peter kept glaring at him till he stopped.

Finally, at Decathlon, he looked sorry for her. Michelle gave him and Peter extra hard questions, just because of his sorry face.

She was coping with the pain, of knowing that he could never be with her. She thought she was doing well, moving on when Peter had to go and flirt with Betty Brant. Quite horribly, she might add, but it still hurt to watch.

She was reading in class when it happened. She also had the pleasure of listening to the whole conversation as she was sat on his left side.

“Hey. How are you? Are you good? You’re doing alright? Doing okay?”

At that time, Michelle thought nothing of it. It was probably just Peter being an awkward teenager or something. Turns out, it was ‘or something’.

“…Yeah?”

“I was just thinking if you’d wanna grab a bite later? Like go get a sandwich or something- I don’t know…”

At that, Michelle’s head snapped up to see Ned staring at the two of them in shock. Her eyes met Ned’s and they both seemed to be wearing the same looks of shock and disbelief.

Michelle quickly tore her gaze away from the three of them and focused on her book, desperately trying to drown out the conversation before her.

“Sure, why not?”

“Great. That’s cool. See you later.”

Michelle pursed her lips and looked down at her textbook. She didn’t speak for the rest of the class, -not even to correct the History teacher when he got the dates wrong- in fear that she might burst into tears in the middle of her class.

It was stupid, that Peter asking Betty out had such an impact on her. That Michelle had become such a mess. She hated it, hated it so much. Then, she looked over at Ned who was staring at his hands- as if they were the ones who asked his crush out. He must feel like shit.

As they were getting ready to go to Decathlon practice, Michelle engulfed Ned in a huge hug. She wasn’t good at this, but she hoped that it made him feel slightly better.

At Decathlon, Peter was frowning, trying desperately to catch Ned’s eye. Michelle couldn’t help but feel a little sorry for Peter but then again, he brought this on himself.

The little bit of pity she felt for Peter was replaced with pity for herself when she saw Peter say something that made Cindy giggle and Peter flush red.

She was angry now.

Because how dare he?

He told her that he wasn’t ready for a relationship and here he was, flirting with Cindy and asking Betty out. Though, she couldn’t blame him. She should’ve known that she was probably just a rebound crush that he flirted with. Though, that didn’t sound like Peter at all.

She should’ve known that it was her. She was the problem. She was naïve to even let herself believe for a second that he liked her back.

She was always too tomboyish. Too sarcastic. Too weird. Too bitchy.

Not pretty enough. Not kind enough.

Peter liked girls like Liz, she was far from that. Suddenly, she had the overwhelming urge to cry.

“Alright, let’s start the drills.”

* * *

 

“Michelle! What’s up with you?” Flash called from the stage.

Michelle didn’t look up from her cards, “Nothing’s wrong with me.”

“Yeah, right. You look like you’re going to either pass out at any minute, or become a crying mess.” Flash said.

At that statement, she saw Peter look at her from the corner of her eye.

She stood her ground and stared at her cards, knowing that if she looked up at him, she would definitely do as Flash said. “I’m just a little sick,” her voice cracked at the end.

Ned shot her a look of sympathy from across the hall and she returned it with a weak smile.

“Ms Jones, if you’re feeling under the weather, you could always cut this practice short.”

“Um, no thanks. I’m fine, Mr Harrington.”

“No you’re not,” Peter said, looking at her with so much of concern that she wanted to burst into tears.

“I think you need some rest, MJ.”  Ned said, and the rest of the members hummed in agreement.

“Alright, last round. Then, I’m letting you losers go.”

* * *

 

Michelle didn’t stay true to her word.

Things didn’t go back to the way they were before she told him about her kind of serious crush on Peter.

After realising that Peter had lied to her about not being ready for a relationship, she had arrived at school, telling herself that she had Ned but alas, she walked in to see the two of them talking at his locker.

Michelle rolled her eyes at her luck and decided to distance herself from the two of them entirely. As oblivious as they were, they had noticed her not-so-discreet efforts to avoid them.

There was the time where Michelle had sprinted the other way when she saw Peter walking in her direction.

And the time where she had stuffed her face with salad leaves to avoid talking to them at lunch with an unapologetic shrug.

Or the time where she had faked an injury to get out of doing gym with Peter- but that was mainly to get out of P.E.

As she kept ignoring them, no matter how hurt they looked, she told herself that it was for her. She’d suffered enough. She wasn’t about to watch from the sidelines as Peter fell in love with some gorgeous nerd, all while nursing her broken heart. You could call her petty, but she knew that her self-esteem would’ve lowered from an already dangerously low level and her depression would’ve skyrocketed if she’d stuck around.

It all came to an end when the two cornered her in the library, refusing to let her go until she told them what they did wrong.

“I’m not avoiding you.” Michelle replied nonchalantly.

“Contrary to popular belief, we’re not stupid, MJ.”

She looked up from her book with a furrowed brow, “No one thinks you guys are stupid. You’re the biggest nerds around.”

When they didn’t react to her half-joke, she sighed. She was really doing this.

“Look,” she sighed, “the reason why I’ve been avoiding you is because...Istilllikeyou,” she looked at Peter for a moment before looking away.

“MJ,” Peter looked confused, “I thought we established that when you knocked on my door and told me about your crush on me.”

“Emphasise on the word ‘still’, Parker!”

Ned rolled his eyes. “MJ, literally everyone knew you still liked him,”

MJ narrowed her eyes, “Everyone?”

“My point is; we knew that you still liked him. That doesn’t explain you avoiding us.”

“Why are you avoiding us, MJ?!” Peter pressed.

“Because Peter-“

The librarian hushed her with a stern look and she dropped her voice to below a whisper, “When you told me that you didn’t like me back, it sucked but then I thought it would be fine because all the crushes I’ve ever had were unrequited and I got over them, so I could get over this, right?”

She saw Ned’s face soften from her peripheral vision as she placed her elbows on her table, leaning forward so that Peter could hear her better.

“But then I realised that this isn’t another one of my dumb crushes. It-it’s different, because it’s you, Peter! It’s always _been_ you! The worst part about this all, is that I have to watch you be with someone who is better than me and I-“ Michelle paused, letting herself take a deep breath before carrying on, “I couldn’t watch you do that and be all fake supportive because that meant that you were actually ready for a relationship when you told me that you weren’t and that I’m not good enough-which I already know about, by the way. So, I decided to just avoid you guys.”

They were stunned into silence. She gathered her things, ignoring their heavy stares in her direction. She held on tightly to the strap of her backpack and looked down at her shoes. “Sorry.” she mumbled before walking out of the library.

Michelle never got any sleep that night.

She hated herself for…feeling, for letting her guard down. Only Michelle could fuck up a year-long friendship because of her stupid feelings. She was back to being alone, again. Great. She was selfish, alone and not worthy enough for Peter (or Ned, for that matter).

But halfway through her empowering playlist she decided, “Fuck Peter Parker.”

Because really, she did want to fuck Peter Parker and also because this was actually all his fault- or at least Beyonce had convinced her it was.

He was the one who flirted with her, the one who wouldn’t stop staring at her, the one who ogled her shamelessly, the one who gave her roses, the one who kissed her forehead (yeah, she was awake during that one).

He was the one who single-handedly convinced her that he reciprocated her romantic feelings for him with all his weird gestures. He was the one who made her realise that she’d always been crushing on him, that it’d always been him. He was the one who gave her the push to tell him about her feelings because she figured she owed it to him.

Last time she checked, the above were things you did when you were crushing on someone. So, you could imagine her shock and disappointment after she had spent the whole of Sunday night dreaming up ways of Peter officially asking her out and he’d rejected her in the middle of the hallway on Monday.

The only thing she could do now was to go back to the way things were before Peter and Ned became constants in her life. Go back to being alone.

She pulled the covers over her body, wiping away the stray tear that had managed to escape her eye at the thought of being alone again.


	10. You're An Idiot

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i hope this lives up to all of your expectations. sorry if it was disappointing to read.

“Peter?” Ned was the first one to break the silence.

“Yeah?”

“You’re an idiot.”

“Yep.”

* * *

 

Ned dragged him out of the library and all the way back to his apartment. Peter dug his hands into the pockets of his jacket as he speed walked with Ned to the apartment.

They both greeted May and headed straight for Peter’s room, leaving the older woman a little confused but she left the apartment with a shrug when she heard MJ’s name being uttered quite frequently. So, it was girl trouble.

Meanwhile, in Peter’s room…

“Dude, she really likes you.”

Peter was staring off into space. The only thing he could think of was her face, the hurt on her face, to be precise.

“And you messed it up because of your hero complex.”

Peter didn’t say anything until, “Ned, what do I do?”

“Well,” Ned crossed his arms and leaned back on Peter’s desk chair, “I say, you tell her the truth.”

“That seems to be the only option now.” Peter agreed.

He looked up at Ned, “I don’t think she’s ever going to talk to me, though.”

Ned scoffed, “Peter, don’t be stupid. She’s crazy about you. She would still hear you out even if you did something worse than this, because she can’t help it.”

“Damn, you do know Michelle.”

“That’s because she’s best friend #2, and I’d like her back, please.”

Just then, they heard someone knocking rather aggressively on the front door.

Peter jumped up and told Ned to get behind him and Ned obliged, though he believed that it wouldn’t be one of Spider-Man’s mortal enemies knocking on his front door.

What Peter didn’t expect though, was to have Tony Stark and MJ at his front door.

_Oh boy._

Peter looked at MJ for a moment too long and she looked away, focusing on her shoes instead.

Tony coughed and Peter stuttered, “Oh right, uh, come in, Mr Stark.”

He watched as Tony ushered MJ in with a, “Ladies first.”

MJ rolled her eyes and stuck her hands into the pockets of her camouflage jacket -that was way too big for her and looked very familiar to Peter- as she took a step into the apartment and looked at Tony. “Your highness,” she said sarcastically as Tony walked in, a pleased smile on his face as he straightened his coat.

_What. Is. Going. On._

MJ took off her gloves and loosened her scarf –since when did she even own scarves?- as Tony looked at the couch in disdain. MJ looked up at Tony and rolled her eyes for the millionth time since she had gotten here, “Would you sit down, Monica?”

“Nice.” Tony nodded in approval at the Friends reference and looked at Peter, giving him a two thumbs up, like the embarrassing dad he was.

Peter looked at Ned and Ned facepalmed.

“Anyway, Mr Stark, why are you here?” Peter deadpanned, standing close to Ned.

“Not that I don’t want you here, I do, but like not in a weird way because if you have stuff to do, I wouldn’t want to impose or anything but you obviously have stuff to do because I mean, you’re Tony Stark but I don’t mean that you’re slacking or anything. I’m sure you work twice as hard as the average man…” Peter cut himself off when he saw MJ interlace her fingers together and rest her nose against it as she looked at Tony expectantly with a frustrated expression.

_Was she mad at him?_

“You’ve told her about Spider-Man.” Tony said, unbuttoning his suit jacket.

Peter made sure to avoid all eye contact with MJ and focused solely on Mr Stark, “She found out.”

“He took his mask off in front of me.” MJ said with a saccharine smile on her face, turning to look at Mr Stark.

“Oh, c’mon, kid, really?” Tony exclaimed, raising his hands in the air.

Peter looked down at his fingers.

So, she was mad. There was no way he’d be able to talk to her now.

“Anyway, I’m going to need to perform the usual procedures.” Tony said.

“Wait, hold up, what procedures?” MJ asked.

“Whenever one of Peter’s loved ones find out about his secret identity, Tony is going to install and activate a bunch of stuff that keeps you safe and out of trouble.” Ned piped.

Tony nodded, “And since you’re friends…”

“Oh, um, I don’t think it’s necessary,” MJ said, fiddling with her folded scarf on her lap.

“Why not? You’re his best friend. Plus, with the whole incident on Friday…”

Peter felt the tension thicken in the room as he snuck a glance at MJ. She looked like she was about to say something but decided against it, nodding in agreement.

“Do I need to give you anything?”

“Nope, that will be all.”

“Right,” MJ stood up, putting on her scarf and her gloves, “I’ll be on my way.”

Before either of them could say anything, she was already out the door.

“So…” Peter started.

“Cut the crap, what did you do now?” Tony looked at him as he rubbed his forehead.

Peter collapsed onto the couch with a sigh and once again, Ned came to the rescue.

“On Sunday, she told Peter that she had a crush on him and he rejected her the next day and crushed her heart because he thought that if she became his girlfriend, she would be more at risk.”

“It’s all for her, really.” Peter added.

“Then, yesterday, she snapped and the point of this is, Peter broke her tiny little MJ heart and made her feel like shit because of his moral compass.”

Tony sighed, “Peter, you have to realise that by being Spider-Man, you’re already putting her at risk by just talking to her. You put May and Ned at risk every day by talking to them too. It sucks that this is what we have to go through as superheroes but you can’t keep pushing her away.”

“She’s mad.” Peter stated the obvious.

“That she is,” Ned agreed.

“No, she’s not. I know what she’s doing, Pepper tells me about it all the time. She’s frustrated that she still likes you after everything you put her through.”

“Yikes.” Ned provided commentary.

“So, she’ll still talk to me?”

“Oh yeah,” Tony waved him off. “Also, she might’ve been a little pissed at me for dragging her here without notice. She threw a huge fit about how embarrassing it was that she was going to show up at your apartment unannounced, wearing your jacket and trying to be mad at you.”

* * *

 

“Alright, we’re going to run through a few topics that we’re weak at collectively and our recommended reading. Then, I’ll split you into groups of two, based on who’s best suited to work on your individual weak points with you and vice versa.”

“She’s so professional,” Peter gawked.

“She’s also not talking to us, so maybe you can fix that instead of gawking?” Ned fired back, eyebrows raised.

“I can’t just walk up to her and expect her to listen to me. I mean, if I were her, _I_ wouldn’t listen to me.” Peter whispered.

Suddenly, a sharp voice cut through their whispering match, “Oh, I’m sorry. Peter, Ned, is there something much, much more important than getting into the finals again? Wanna share it with the team?”

“Um, no.” Ned shook his head, a little shell-shocked that she was actually speaking to them.

“Uh, actually,” Peter motioned for her to come over to their table and she rolled her eyes, before stomping over to their table, surprising the two boys.

“Well, what is it?” she asked, arms crossed and her foot tapping the ground impatiently.

Peter leaned forward, so that only she could hear him, “Uh, could we have a moment alone? Outside?”

Michelle very sarcastically, pretended to consider the offer before walking away, “Nope.”

Peter waited until she wasn’t looking, for him to respond to Ned, “See?”

* * *

 

Weeks had gone by, she still wasn’t talking to either of them. Besides, the occasional passive-aggressive comment during decathlon practice, it was close to silence on MJ’s end.

Finally, Peter came up with a foolproof plan that would definitely get her to talk to him.

He waited and waited, and then he yanked her by the arm, into the deserted, dark alleyway.

She fought back, obviously, until, “Relax, Michelle. It’s just me.”

She stopped fighting his grip and Peter came to a halt, crossing his arms. Suddenly, a very, bright light was projected onto his mask, behind it, was Michelle, holding her phone and shoving it in her face.

“Jesus Christ, what are you doing, Parker?” she sounded tired, and a little frustrated.

Peter blinked. Well, in his head, he didn’t think that he would actually get this far in the plan, so now he just had to wing it. He opened his mouth, ready to tell her everything when, “Wait, are those my sweatpants?”

Michelle’s eyes widened, “I didn’t have any left!”

He nodded awkwardly.

“Hey, could we speed this up, Spider? I’m supposed to be on my way to Grandma’s.”

“You’re going to your Grandma’s in a leather jacket and my sweatpants?”

“You’re in brightly coloured spandex, don’t criticise my outfit choices.”

“Don’t you hate going there, anyway?”

Michelle crossed her arms, “Well, I’m not exactly thrilled to be pulled into an alley with you right now, either.”

“Right, um, can we talk?”

Michelle opened her mouth, ready to protest but he cut her to the chase. “Please? Just hear me out, MJ?

“Fine.”

“Great!” Peter exclaimed. “Ok, well, see, um, I like you too.”

“What?”

“Like you, sometimes, I have the overwhelming need to kiss you, or you know, do couple-y things with you.”

“That’s great, Peter. Good for you, but...I’m Michelle? You do realise you’re talking to me, right?”

“I’ve liked you for so long, Michelle. I bought you a bunch of roses that day because I wanted to impress you. I kept trying to hang out with you more because I wanted to get to know you better. I stare at you a lot because I can’t help myself, or even look away. I flirt with you, and try to make you smile because I love your smile. I’ve liked you for so long, and I’m very well aware of my feelings.”

“Then, why did you tell me the opposite, you dork?!”

“Right, that’s a funny story, actually.” Peter laughed nervously, when he saw the irritated look on her face.

“Should I be sitting down?”

“Well, you know, after you got kidnapped, I was shaken up over the whole incident because I had some pretty strong feelings for you and I nearly lost you and I couldn’t bear losing you ever again. So, when you told me that you liked me, I decided to let you down gently, because, being the girlfriend of Spider-Man puts you in more danger than ever and I just wanted to protect you? But I ended up losing you?”

MJ rubbed her forehead tiredly, “So you’re telling me, that you did all of this, to protect me from getting kidnapped again?”

“Yes?”

“…Even after all of Stark’s ‘procedures’?”

“No, that was after I came to my senses.”

“Why did you try to flirt with Betty then?” she interrogated.

“Oh, that was stupid. Betty has been waiting for Ned to make a move but he hasn’t because, he’s Ned and well, she asked me to fake-ask her out in front of Ned to see if he actually cared but Ned thought I was a dick for a solid two hours and you got upset- according to Ned, so that plan backfired.”

“Jesus.” MJ muttered under her breath.

“Oh and um, I wanted to tell you another thing. Michelle Jones, you will always be better than me, and I’ll never deserve you and honestly, the whole world does not deserve someone as awesome as you, and you’ll always be my only option, over and over again. You’re the prettiest girl I’ve ever met and I’ll probably ever meet and I really don’t want you to ever think that you’re not good enough for anyone because I’ll never meet someone like you.”

“That being said, Michelle Jones,” he got down on one knee. “Will you do me the honour of becoming my girlfriend?”

MJ looked at him for a while, on one knee, his mask discarded on the ground as he stared up at her with a boyish smile and hopeful eyes. Everything about him was so Peter Parker, she couldn’t help but to roll her eyes lovingly at the boy before her.

“Stand up,” she ordered and he obliged, looking away from her.

She poked at his chest, “You’re an idiot, you know that?”

Peter began to mutter a string of apologies when, “But you’re my idiot.”

Peter chuckled, exhaling a little, before his lips curled up into a toothy grin, almost resembling a little kid on Christmas. “So, you…”

MJ smiled, for the first time in weeks. The little top knot on her head bounced along adorably, as she nodded, “Yes.”

He shot a web at her hip and pulled her closer to his chest, making them centimetres apart. Michelle wrapped her arms around his neck and looked into his warm, brown eyes. Unfortunately, she couldn’t see much of them for long because he had already closed his eyes, and captured her lips in a very passionate kiss.

When she pulled away, she looked at him with mock-seriousness, “You’re coming with me to Grandma’s now, as a form of payback.”

Peter managed to huff out a breathless, “You’re adorable.”

“I’m serious,” she checked her phone for the time. “Get dressed, Spider-Boy, we should be there in 20. I’m already sending a text,” she typed away furiously on her phone.

Peter kissed her cheek before retreating, deeper into the alley. “Just to be clear, you’re introducing me as your boyfriend right?” he called over his shoulder.

“Oh boy.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> fear not, my friends, this is not the end. i will be posting an epilogue after this, but like not right away.


	11. You Got Me In Love So Deep

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> listen to romantic by stanaj (the notd remix) as you read this- it'll make you feel soft inside and i highly recommend it.
> 
> yes, this is an epilogue, so it is set a few months after the last chapter.

“Michelle, babe, I need you to wake up, please?”

No answer.

“MJ, wake up!”

No answer.

“Michelle?”

“Jesus Christ, Peter, what do you want?” Michelle sat up on the bed and rubbed at her eyes tiredly. Her vision came into focus slowly as she took in her familiar surroundings. To her left, she grabbed her phone and checked the time. “It’s four in the morning, Peter.”

She sat up, pressing his comforter against her body as she reached for his discarded t-shirt on the floor and put it on her as she turned to the boy next to her. She could make out the outline of a smile on his face.

“I love you.”

Michelle blinked, the words sending her into a state of alarm. She was fully awake now, definitely. “I…you’ve never…wow, well, you’ve never said that to me before.”

“Uh huh,” Peter nodded, getting a little close to her. “Well, I thought you should know.”

“How long?” came her quiet voice after a while.

“Since the uh…incident.”

“What? Peter…” Michelle softened, looking at him with a soft smile.

“Yeah? You don’t have to say anything, I just wanted to-“

“I love you too.”

Peter moved closer to her, until he was hovering on top of her, looking down at her lovingly. “That’s great, because I’ve got a few hours until May wakes up for work so…”  


“Ugh, stop talking.” MJ rolled her eyes, as she pulled him to her, his lips landing directly on hers.

When they pulled away, air being the main reason, she played with the curls on the back of his head and he looked down at her, his soft smile echoing the mood around them. “How did I get so lucky?”

MJ smirked, “Face it, tiger. You’ve just hit the jackpot.”

**Author's Note:**

> don't forget to leave a comment or a kudos! i'm on tumblr @/riarkledale if you ever want to scream.


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